You know those pictures that you see on every “expert” gardener’s website of perfectly groomed gardens burgeoning with color and glory? They’re fake. Those pictures, which are supposedly testaments to the effulgent growing prowess of the accomplished professional (with the really white teeth), only depict the garden at one point in time. Like any staged portrait, the subject is groomed for the moment of capture. Once the picture is taken, the careful preening fades into a normal routine, which for most of us means we weed the garden when it needs it, not on some made-up schedule prescribed by some dressed-up gardening “expert.”

I started weeding my garden this morning. It hasn’t been touched in nearly a month, and after all the rain and cool weather we’ve had the lamb’s quarter and grass have gotten out of hand. I started in the onions, because I couldn’t seem them. I thought that was as good a reason as any for starting there.

The trick to weeding rows that are overrun with grass and other unwanted growth is proximity. When the weeds are this bad, you have to be up close and personal. Locate the plant to be saved, in my case the onion. Begin by gently separating the plant from the weeds until you can identify the base of the plant. Pull the weeds closest to the plant one  or two at a time. Trying to pull a fistful at once could uproot the plant you are trying to save. Once you’ve pulled the weeds closest to the plant, then you can yank ‘em out by the handfulls.

There’s something quite cathartic about pulling weeds. The ripping sound and utter destruction of it can help even the most frustrated person find a moment of calmness. We can just rip andyank  until we look up to discover a row of freed onions or flowers, and suddenly we have a sense of accomplishment and control. Of course, the feeling is fleeting. In a couple of weeks, we’ll look at our garden again and think, “I’ve got to get out there and weed my garden.” We’ll say that to ourselves and others for another two weeks before we actually do it.

Take a picture of your garden just after you weed it, and you too will have a picture perfect garden preserved for posterity in a perfectly posed photograph.But don’t worry too much about having a picture perfect garden all season long. The perfect garden grows a few weeds for our venting pleasure; appreciate them for what they are–fair game.

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Tags: weed control